In the Midst of Death by Lawrence Block
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"I cradled the phone and tapped the bourbon bottle for another small taste. My head ached dully and I suspected that bourbon was probably not the best thing in the world for it, but I couldn't think of anything better. "

While I usually enjoy Lawrence Block's novels and I rather like the Matthew Scudder character, particularly in the earlier novels, I have found In the Midst of Death (1976) a minor disappointment. This is officially the third novel in the series, but the second published, and I rate it way below The Sins of the Fathers, which opened the series. I am writing this review just a few weeks after I had finished reading and I barely remember the plot.

Matthew Scudder is hired by a police detective who faces a charge of extortion. The detective is trying to find out who stands behind the accusation. Since he had been helping a special prosecutor with investigating police corruption it seems possible that the charge has been brought as retaliation by someone from the police force. Meanwhile, when a prostitute with whom the detective has had frequent contacts is killed, he is booked on suspicion of murder.

Mr. Scudder investigates the complex case and, naturally, solves it. Yet I have serious reservations about plausibility: several people in the novel voluntarily tell Scudder various secrets. People like federal attorneys share confidential information with an unlicensed private eye. Hardly likely. I find the denouement forced and contrived. The author provides sort of a cascade ending, though, and some of the twists are interesting.

This being an early Scudder story, alcohol is obviously in the foreground. The novel portrays a high-functioning alcoholic well. The reader will find several interesting observations of an alcoholic's psychophysiology, for instance, about the relationship between dreams and DTs. I am disappointed, though, that while in many books Mr. Block's prose is richer than is needed to just advance the plot, in this novel I have found just one passage that transcends the utilitarian writing:

She looked at me, and for a short moment we challenged one another with our eyes. I didn't know then and do not know now precisely what happened, but our eyes met and exchanged wordless messages, and something must have been settled on the spot, although we were not consciously aware of the settlement or even of the messages that preceded it.

Overall, I am unable to recommend this novel.

Two-and-a-quarter stars.

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